Origins
by Lady Chou
Summary: After Romdo's destruction Vince and Re-l join the community of a colonization vessel. Vince begins having strange dreams alluding to past memories, members of the community grow suspicious. ReLVincent R and R, please!
1. An Introduction

"Here's your application, sir." Eyes blank, hand out-stretched.

"Me?" No response. Hand to paper, pen to hand.

_**Name of Applicant: **_

_V-I-N-E_

"Darn,"

Erase it and begin again.

Start from scratch.

_V-I-N-C-E-N-T L-A-W_

Perfect.

"Here," Relief washes over, mending trembling fingers.

"Thank you, sir. We'll get back to you," Vacant voice and vapid eyes, smoke and mirrors, reflect your own fear.

"Thank you."

No response.

No hope.


	2. Odors of Discovery

Author's Note: Well, I didn't really want to write an Ergo Proxy fan-fiction. I just thought there needed to be more. I haven't been able to see all the episodes. I missed some beginning ones and some middle ones. I bought the first DVD for Christmas though, my gift to me. This is my own version of how Vincent came to be, even if it doesn't coincide with the actual story. In other words, I'm going to shed some imaginary light on my own imaginary explanation. Also, I started after the ending, but I'm going back to before the beginning.

"Viiiiiiiiiiiiiiincent!" Can't breathe. "Viiiiiiince," There's a great pressure on my chest. "Waaaake-up, silly!" Cold metal prodding my ribs. "Reeee-L! Vincent's dead!" Darkness everywhere.

"He's not dead, Pino," They're always watching. "He probably will be soon though. You're crushing his lungs," Footsteps coming closer.

"Oh," Tension freed, but the fear, the fear's choking me.

"Hey, sleepyhead, get up," They're touching me. What do they want from me? "I said wake-up!"

"Get away from me!" Time to open your eyes. Life bursts forth from the motionless corpse; life to Frankenstein's creation; life to a man playing God is taken.

"Vincent, what the hell are you doing? Let go of me!" Vincent's fingers dung into her wrist.

"Re-L," Eyes wide, reality takes over the dream. He lets go. "I'm sorry. I-I..."

"Yeah, whatever." Re-L rubbed her wrist with her palm, cringing. "Just get out of bed already." Her sharp footsteps reverberated against the compartment of his bedroom. They tread away. She was mad again.

"Don't worry, Vincent, it's just Re-L's time-of-the-month," Pino winked.

"Huh?" Vincent rubbed his eyes, pulling away the covers. He shuttered at the cold. Goosebumps crept over his body and into his core.

"'Pino, it's that time of the month and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave me alone or else'" Pino nodded to herself, giggling.

"I wonder what that means," Vincent stared, clueless, at the off-white walls. It held no answers. Pino shrugged and catapulted herself off the mattress.

"Time to get dressed, Vincent!" A heap of red clothing rested by the door; Pino took her opportunity. "Geronimo!" To the scissor-kicks, to the dolphin, Pino swam in a pile of smelly. "You're clothes are diiirty. DIIIIIRTY!" Pino giggled.

"Come on, Pino. Stop it," He tugged at her arm. "Give me my clothes." It was no use.

"Smell!" Vincent leant in to pull her out and instead, got a face full of cloth.

"Agh...ugh..."

"Vincent's dirty!" She beamed.

"This is all I have, what else am I supposed to wear?" He held a pant leg up, far away from his face, repulsed.

An hour later...

"Wow. That is so much better." Re-L sat, arm stretched, butt planted, against a hard metal chair in the kitchen. "Getting dressed usually involves dressing," Re-L sipped a mug of water, scrutinizing its surface.

"My uniform is dirty." Vincent stood towering above her. "It smelled bad." She looked up.

"Vincent, couldn't you have done a little better than you're sweaty pajamas? You still reek." A pot clattered to the floor. "Hey, Pino, watch what you're doing back there." She turned her head away, yelling at the Auto-Reive. Re-L smiled back at Vincent. "You could always wear Pino's rabbit suit. Perfect fit." Vincent slumped in the opposite chair. His torso toppled forward onto the table. He was a dejected rag doll.

"You look tired. Bad dream?" Re-L traced the rim of her cup; she didn't meet his eyes. His eyes were firmly planted on the surface of the table, so it made little difference.

"Yeah." He lifted his head slowly; worry marking his face in definitive wrinkles. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a bruise." She held up a bandaged wrist. "No big deal."

"What about last night? You said you were feeling sick." Vincent looked at and looked right through her.

"Better. What about your dream?" He was pre-occupied. It was time to get to business.

"I...I don't know." He started studying the cabinets. "Can you help me with my laundry?"

"Vincent, just tell me," She planted the cup on the table with a loud thud. Her eyes shone venom. Vincent knew better than to meet them.

"I-I...it's nothing," Vincent didn't hear her stand. He didn't hear her soft footsteps across the floor.

"I thought we were over this." He felt as her fingertips brushed his stubble chin. Softly, she held his face in her hand. Gently, she lifted it to hers; he didn't stop her. "I thought we were done being afraid," Then, she leant in and softly, pressed her lips against his.

"Now, tell me," She smiled. He started to look away. Her light touch, caressing his face, transformed into a wolf clawing at its prey.

"Don't even try it." Vincent closed his eyes.

"Vincent," Re-L didn't like to lose. "Don't make me hurt you," She ran her free hand through his hair, at first, playfully. Then, she yanked.

"Ow! You didn't have to do that," His green eyes landed on hers. They widened in fear.

"Re-L's hurting Vince, Kristeva!" Pino burst from the back, balancing a silver pot on her head.

"We didn't mean to interrupt," Kristeva's legato voice smoothed away the tension in the room.

"You weren't interrupting anything!" While Re-L was distracted, Vincent ducked out of her grip, sidling to Pino and Kristeva.

"This isn't over," She mouthed the words at him.

"'This isn't over!'" Pino cooed, spinning like a top, pot perfectly in balance on her head.

"You are so annoying," Re-L grumbled. She shot a death stare over to Vincent and slipped out the door. Kristeva turned to Vincent, registering no reaction to their strange behavior.

"We're nearing the land-site of one of the colonization vessels." She waited, silently, for the response.

"Oh," He looked down at his grungy clothes, and sweat-stained arm-pits. "How soon will we be there?" He asked, sniffing at the gray material.

"Five minutes." She walked away. He couldn't help, but feel that she was laughing at him.

"Smelly Vince, smelly, smelly, Vince!" Pino definitely was.

Vincent burst out the door, the wind tugging at the loose pieces of his black hair. His fingers were pulling at the buttons of his uniform, clasping each to a close. Re-L was standing away from Kristeva, on the other side of the deck. She adorned her light brown coat, her arms crossed. Vincent smiled. There was something about her maddened stoop that allured him, something in her furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips. It was a challenge and he would be the victor. The wind masked his tread as he made his way to her. He slipped his arms across her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"It's cold out here," His smiled, despite the desolate view.

"Get off me," She was shaking. Was it from the cold? "We're almost there," She nudged him away and quickly, spun on her heel to face him. "You really stink, Vincent. Now, I probably stink too. They'll think we're some kind of filthy apes living in our own feces all because you can't properly wash your own clothes. Thanks a lot, Vince." Vincent was at a loss of words. What had he done now? Like a phantom, she glided away to Kristeva and whispered in quite conversation. Vincent leant against the railing, staring at the empty sky. It was cloudy today, perfect weather. Vincent never told Re-L, but sometimes, when the sky was blue and the sun was bright, it burned. The proxy cells inside him were reacting. He thought he'd come to terms with that, but still, it haunted him in the daylight and in his dreams. He wondered if there were any other proxies left. Would they still have to fight like before? Could he hold back the transformation? Or would he die under the sky so blue? The ship began to loose elevation. A world returned was about to come crashing down on them. In the distance, he could see the mass of a dark ship and little creatures buzzing around it. It was time to come back in contact with the realm of humanity, fall into the reality of a nightmare.

Author's Note: Sometimes, I sneak in lines and episode titles from my favorite anime. I used to do that all the time in role-plays. I snuck in a Trigun title. This is sort of a little twist on Trigun anyway. You know what amazes me? I apparently spelled Geronimo right because spell-check didn't fix it. W-O-W. I can't spell feces though. No, that one's beyond me.


	3. Arrival

Author's Note: Wow. I love Ergo Proxy. Vincent is so adorable. I started the series on the second half of the second episode the first time through and then missed the episodes after that because band is a time monger. You know what would've been good, though? If I would've seen the first episode before I wrote that. I think the only episodes I'm missing now are some of the ones on the second DVD. I was watching the trailer for it today and I saw Raul talking to the Creator? When did that happen? Can anyone answer some questions for me about the whole creator shtick? Please, send me a message if you're willing to put up with my confused curiosity.

"I wonder what they'll think about us," Re-L leant across the steal railing of the ship. The wind tugged and tore at her black hair. Loose pieces lunged at her face, biting her cold, pale skin. Her open limbs grew numb to the blistering cold. Even her face held an expression of pure, emotionless ice. It was a way of protecting yourself. If you just closed yourself off from everything else, life was painless. You never had deal with anything outside of yourself. She'd never tried to get close to anyone and when she had, they'd betrayed her. Iggy, Dedalus…they'd all told her they loved her, but in the end, they all left her. Could she trust anyone again? Eventually, would they all leave her too?

Re-L hung back, hands tightly clasped to the railing, forcing her against the wind. She could see him out of the corner of her eye. Vincent stooped to her left, staring out across the vapid wasteland of earth. Kristeva and Pino were at the helm. Faceless, stoic, Kristeva guided the ship to its new destination, new home? Pino twirled around her, smiling like always; Kristeva showed no intolerance or patience. She was blank.

Humans, auto-reives…proxies they were all the same. They hid their true selves behind an empty shell.

For once everyone was silent, lost in their own fears and dreams. She closed her eyes, relishing in the quiet. There was hidden beauty in silence, ceaseless soundless melodies. You could lose yourself in the boundless hums of nothingness. In the void, your mind was free to create anything you wished, to retrace the lost memories. More than anything, this reminded of her of Romdo. Romdo was built on silence and, eventually, devoured by it. It was silent ignorance. People wanted to believe nothing could touch them. They wanted to believe the dome was more than artificial; it was an angel that would destroy all foes. It was alive, it was God. The immigrant inflation and expanding underground were just knats to their batter, annoying, but not permanent. They ignored the signs, living in a faux-paradise. By the time it all became clear, the fire and brimstone was hailing down and consuming everything. Still, the clarity of the demonic smog was opaque in the reflection of the citizens of Romdo. The people had held onto to their ignorance until the very end, believing in a false God. God punished the worshippers of the golden calf and he so punished the people of Romdo. It was the Creator's divine justice.

She opened her eyes slightly; curiosity tickling the goose bumps across her arms. She couldn't help, but look at him. They'd grown so much since the end, but still, he kept most of his secrets to himself. He had his memory back, but shared none of it with her. He said he loved her, but wouldn't open up to her. She didn't know him, not this Vincent. How could she trust him? Trust this stranger?

Quickly, ice doused the flame of curiosity and the ashes of guilt remained.

She pivoted back to the railing and the coming view. She didn't always share everything with him either. How was this supposed to work? How were they supposed to trust in each other when all they had ever known was lies?

"Land hoooooo!" So much for the joy of silence, Re-L thought. Pino's voice was like fingernails grating on a chalkboard. At least, it brought her back into reality, even if it was annoying.

"Kristeva, let's land a little afar. We don't want to frighten them," She knew he was looking at her. She hadn't spoken for the past few minutes. He'd tried to get her attention, but gotten nothing in return. He was about to speak; she could feel it. She could hear the intake of air, the smacking of his lips in preparation.

"Re-L, Lis-" He spoke, softly, barely audible. She could still hear him, even over the barrage of wind.

"Are we frightening Reee-L?" Pino was dancing across the metal deck toward Re-L. She scrunched her face in a scowl, pulling her eye-lids over her synthetic optics. Re-L could've spun around and waited for his question. Instead, she turned against him, to Pino.

"No, just you," She scowled to herself. Why was she doing this? Why was she cutting him off like this? Why didn't just turn around, right now, look him in the eyes and say-

No. It was futile to even think about it.

Besides, would it really hurt that much to go on living in ignorance, just a little bit longer?

"Who do you think these people are?" Vincent walked, slowly, step by step, behind Re-L. He rubbed his gloved hands against one another, his teeth chattering. Night was nearing and with it came an even greater cold. His green eyes were vacant, affixed on the ragged earth below his feet. He was afraid of meeting her gaze.

"Their ship's design is very similar to the Boomerang Star." Kristeva answered. Vincent remained vacant, but inside, he was disappointed. Re-L still wasn't talking to him.

"So, that means they're a colonization vessel from a different planet" Re-L stared, hopelessly, at the sky. "Did they know about Romdo?" There were no answers hidden among the clouds. "It looks like it might rain today."

"Rain, rain go away, come again another day!" Pino chimed in, trailing at the back.

"Where did you learn that from, Pino?" Re-L inquired.

"Uuh...I must've made it up! Yeah, I made it up!" She smiled up at them. "Rain, rain go away, come again another day,"

"It's going to be a long day," Re-L mumbled to herself.

Vincent felt apprehension creeping through his body. What would these people be like? Would they be like the people who had established the city? Like the creator? Would they know about the proxies?

"Vincent!" Pino tugged at his jacket." Listen to my song!" She started again. Vincent watched her and somehow, watched Re-L at the same time.

"Hey! We're getting close!" Re-L stood away from the rest of them. They'd reached the top of their plight, a jagged hill over-looking the colonization campsite. She planted herself at the very height of the steep hill, on top of the world.

"Re-L, be careful," He was nearing her pedestal. "Don't stand so close to the edge." Vincent offered his hand in the air for support.

"I'm fine, Vincent." Re-L began to turn, but turned too quickly. Her foot twisted backward, jostled by loose rocks. She was falling. Re-L hated this feeling, the feeling of helplessness. There was nothing you could do, nothing to hold on to. It was inevitable; all you could do was let yourself fall. But it never came. She just remained, suspended in air. Something held her there by the ends of her arms, something strong. She tossed her head backwards and met his smiling lips.

"Get. Off. Me." She pushed him away. "I told you I don't need your help," She didn't yell at him, but the look in her eyes was enough to kill.

"I-I...I was j-just trying to..." He seemed so dejected and worn-out. His eyes were closed. It was Vincent's way of hiding away; it was his escape. Re-L looked away. Something inside her was breaking. She could feel it trying to release itself, but she couldn't let it, not in front of him, not in front of anyone. Iggy. It had broken free then and with the fall of Romdo. At least with Romdo, she had been alone. With the bathroom door locked, she had released it from its cage.

"Just shut up, Vincent and let's go. We're almost there." What was wrong with her? Why was she ostracizing him like this? Minimally, she shook her head. She couldn't let him see.

She started down the hill. At first, no one followed, not even Kristeva. They were all just standing there, silent. Re-L hated it.

"What do we do now?" They were yards away now as Vincent whispered more than spoke his nerves. None of them were moving. They all just stood, staring at the hulking mass of steal and spread tents. Vincent was the only who had dared to speak against the persistent silence. What _were_ they going to do now? Did they just burst in? Would those people somehow know what they were?

"Do you hear that?" No one could've stopped her. "It's music!" Pino broke away from the stagnant pack and ran toward the anomaly. Re-L's pulse quickened. She wanted to stop her, grab for her, but knew it would've availed to nothing. There was something terrible about the unknown. She swiped Vincent with a side-glance. The unknown...

"Pino! Wait!" Another set of footsteps echoed along Pino's.

"Vince, I can hear music! Hurry!" Vincent raced after her, but it was no use. They both disappeared beyond the mystery.

Re-L shrugged her shoulders, looking to Kristeva. Calmly and slowly, they walked together into the unknown.

Vincent stopped, looking to the left and to the right. Where was Re-L? Kristeva? Pino? All he could see was white, white to his left, to his right, to his back, to his front. He was lost in a labyrinth.

"Pino?" He called softly. He was afraid to get any louder. What if someone heard him? "Pino? Come back, Pino." What was that? It was to his left. It sounded like...a piano. Could Pino be hidden away or…trapped in one these tents?

"Pino? Is that you Pino?" He dived down a narrow alley, created at the parting of two twin tents. There it was again, to the left. Steadily, he traversed the tents, eyes and ears wide open. The sound was getting louder; he was almost there.

It stopped. Where had it gone? Vincent ran his fingers through his hair. Fingers caught on loose tendrils and in a fit of frustration, Vincent pulled. The pain diverted partial agitation, but it wasn't enough. What was he supposed to do now? He didn't want to be alone. He wanted to sink, sink below the ground. He wanted to wrap himself in a tight ball. What would Re-L think of that?

Pathetic, that's what.

"Where is everyone?" His shoulders sagged in defeat; his arms lay limp at his side. What was he going to do?

There it was again, the music. Hope burst forth from his is vivid green eyes. There was no time to lose. He had to find it before it stopped again. Rabidly, he lunged forward, at first, stumbling. Then, there was no stopping him. He picked up an almost inhuman speed as he dove past tents and darkness. He had to find it. He just had to. There! There is was! He tripped to a halt. The echo of a c dyed away just as he neared a blank, white tent. There was nothing different about this one. Nothing said "Hey, Vincent, look here!" It was just as mysterious as all the others. At least, it seemed that way on the outside. There was one factor that made it different, one stand-out variation. Within its walls, it could be Pino or...Re-L. It was more than it appeared. It was hope. It was light in the darkness. It was companionship. It was the answer. The only question left was...

Did he dare?

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pushed away the opening flaps.

"Re-L? Pi-?" He whispered softly into nothingness.

"Don't move." Darkness. A clicking noise. Vincent stumbled backward. "I said don't move." A gruff voice barking orders. Can't think. Only in fragments.

"I-I'm...P-Pi-"

"Don't talk!" Cold metal...prodding. Familiar.

"Hand above your head!" Vincent slid his hands against his tousled hair. "Now, on the ground! I said, ON THE GROUND!" Vincent slid, knees forward, onto the hard sediment. His breathing was getting heavier, weighed down by fear. "What's your name?"

"V-Vincent." A man towers, shrouded in a blanket of black.

"Vincent, WHAT?" A jab from the cold metal. Vincent gasped.

"Law. Vincent Law."

"What are you doing here, Vincent?" The voice fluctuated, becoming close and distant, close and distant. He was circling him like a vulture circling its prey.

"I-I'm looking for Pino and Re-L," Another click.

"Pino? Re-L?" What were those clicks, those noises? He knew them. "I'm afraid I don't know them. I don't know you, Vincent." Something was moving towards him. Laughter and menace saturated the stranger's speech. "And I know everyone in this company."

"We're...we're...Romdo!" He almost shouted it. The tension was building up, pushing him to the brink. The pacing stopped. The man was restive. Wait. The silence. This was bad. The metal, lightly, touched against Vincent's head. It felt cool to his building fever. Slowly, notch by notch, he extended his neck. Realization slapped Vincent, fast and hard. He knew it now. He knew what it was.

He opened his eyes.

It was a gun. He was staring down the barrel of a gun.

Something snapped inside. His quickened pulse, fear born, resonated now with the beat of aggression. A gun? What could a gun do? Low, from the deep caverns of the soul, laughter burst from Vincent's lips. An alien sneer painted his face in shadows. Nothing could stop him now. He was Ergo and he was Vincent. Vincent wanted to protect his friends, protect Re-L. Ergo wanted freedom. Vincent lunged. Together, Vincent and the man fell. A thin veil of dust assailed the air as the two men struggled in the dirt. The man, clubbed at Vincent with both hands. The metal of the gun sounded, clank, clank, clank, as he bashed against Vincent's head. Vincent grabbed at the weapon with buried strength. The man held steady; still, Vincent clawed. The man was large and Vincent was swift. With the man's fat hand held in his, he twisted the gun out of his grip. The man cried in pain as his hand convoluted against Vincent's will. Quickly, Vincent bolted up, distancing himself from close proximity. He was hovering over the man now, the gun ready in his hand. He knew how to use it and he wasn't afraid, not anymore.

"Where are Re-L and Pino?" He wanted to scream it. He jabbed the gun down into the man's face. "Tell me! Where are they?!"

"I-I don't know." The man quivered with fear. What was he supposed to do? Would he die at the hands of this stranger?

"Liar!" He drew closer, the gun pressed against his throat.

"I swear...I don't even know you, please," Footsteps behind him. What would he do? There was no time left. It was do or die. Did he kill him? He jabbed again, with greater force. The man whimpered in pain. They were getting closer. Time to choose! No! NO! Vincent couldn't do it. The gun began to sag in his hand, losing its power

What was he doing? The man made a move, lunging at Vincent. Vincent stumbled backward, away from him. He targeted the gun at the man's bulbous head; it shook in his trembling fingers.

"Stay back!" He was secluding back into himself. Ergo had deserted him. The man was silent, waiting for Vincent's next move.

What was his next move? What was he supposed to do?

"Agh!" Vincent screamed. This was going all wrong! All he wanted was his friends. It wasn't supposed to be this way.

"Vincent!" A voice. It was her voice. He turned, unthinking, towards it.

"Re-L?" He didn't even feel as the man slipped the gun out of his grip then cock it against his head.

"Don't try anything like that again," The man pressed hard against his skull. Vincent turned against it, hearing nothing. Eye to eye, the man saw nothing in return, no fear, no hate. Glazed over, Vincent stared forward into the black of the gun, dreaming. The gun thudded against his forehead. "What do you have a death wish?"

In placid pools of green, the man saw a reflection warped.

"Hey! Let Vince go!" Pino...It was Pino. She sounded so close.

"Vincent, what the hell are you doing?" Re-L, I can hear Re-L. If only this wasn't a dream. If…only…Something against the shoulder, pushing, pushing. "Vincent! Dammit, Vincent, wake-up!"

It was all just a dream.

"What's wrong...?

They're leaving me. Their voices….so quiet…Please! Please, don't leave me here! I can't find them. Can't scream. Nothing, nothing will come out! I'm here!

"I need you, Vincent!" What was that? "Come to me!" A voice, a familiar voice.

"Vincent!" Calling me…it's calling me. Ground…where is the ground?

"I'm coming!" It appeared…an endless path ahead, never-ending, never-ending.

"Follow the light, Vincent!" Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?

"Follow the light!" Legs, pumping. So…tired…think…I'll

fall

fall

asleep.

Can't stop! Wide-awake! Wake-up!

"Almost there, Vincent." The voice, sweat…kind…I know this voice. But who are you? It's so dark. I can't see. Wait, there's light. I see the light, voice! I'm coming!

Suddenly,

There.

"Welcome!" A smiling angel. "I'm so glad you could make it."

The light…it's blinding. I can't see. It hurts. It's burning me. Make it stop…burning…from the inside…Stop it!

"Look at me Vincent!" Who...is that? "Look into the light." Fire. Something…it's burning. I can smell burning…burning…

Flesh…Am I on fire? The smile…

"Monad?"

"Yes, Vincent. It's Monad." Open arms…Agh! It's killing me. No, not me. Lips…familiar…it's burning! The angel is on fire!

"You're...you're burning, Monad." Redundant, can't…stop it. 'What can I do? I don't know what to do?" She's laughing at me.

'You did this Vincent,"

"No, I didn't" Why…I wouldn't…

"Yes, you did"

"It was…it was the Creator!" Desperate, desolate…

"It was YOU!" No, no…I'm sorry.

"No!" The fire...I can't escape the fire...It's burning...going to burn me...I'm going to die. I have to get away, get away from her. I'm sorry.

I have to let go.

Author's Note: I did it again. Trigun episode "Sin": Legato says to Vash "Time to choose! You have free will." My friend and I memorized Vash and Legato's conversation there at the end for a theatre final. I was Legato. It was monotonously fun. By the way, there are a lot of sentence fragments in this one. Yeeep…


	4. Silence

Author's Note: Sorry. I felt like I didn't stay too true to Re-l or Vincent in this chapter. I made the decision to be cliché and fangirl-like. Sorry in advance if you don't like it. Here we go!

Vincent's eyes shot open, pupils receded into minute specks. The green iris within reflected the pallor of his face. Beads of sweat lightly descended down his brow and gently seeped through his lips onto his awaiting tongue. The taste was subtle yet unmistaken as alien. Almost in whisper, taken by rampant vertigo, he called over and over that name.

"Monad," His voice cracked, broken in two. His eyes, stared, endlessly at a blanket of white. He was lost within himself.

"Monad's not here, Vincent." Dark and brooding, the voice called.

"Did she...burn?" Quietly, almost fearful, he questioned the Almighty.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Re-l crouched in the corner of the tent, a dark shadow cast across her own dark eyes. Vincent had been sleeping for over eight hours and patiently she had waited for him to wake up. Now, she didn't care if he woke up ever again. Vincent, dazed, turned his head as if submerged in thick molasses. He was nearly out of the dream. When he met Re-l's eyes, fear spread like wild fire and ignited reality. The coals of her wrath lay subtle but deadly. Lurking in the water of her dark blue were hungry sharks. Vincent gulped. 

"Where...am...I?" He snapped his head away quickly, appraising the tent; he'd look at anything but those eyes. He felt the crick-crack in his neck as he twisted it around the white tent in his query of distraction. 

"A tent," Re-l answered, clear-cut, no edges; he wasn't going to get much out of her. He yawned, groggily, wiping away built-up crust in the corner of his eyes. It felt like clearing out spider-webs. How long had he been asleep? He peered over to Re-l and couldn't look away. She stared, hopelessly into the corner of white. She leaned forward, back arched away from the linen back-drop. Her arms were pulled together atop her knees and atop that her head. Her fingertips lightly touched down on her lips as she held her head slightly to the left, askew. There was softness in her eyes. It seemed like a foreign Re-l, not Vincent's Re-l. Yet there was something within her he wanted. It was a part of Re-l she never showed: her vulnerability. For once her mind wasn't concentrating hard on complex problems or people. She was merely vacant, letting an ocean of free-thought flow through her mind. She looked so soft. He wanted to touch just to know what this new Re-l felt like; he wanted to know how she would touch him back.

"Vincent's awake!" Pino pounced on Vincent's pallet knocking his torso back against the hard, blanket-covered earth. Vincent lifted his head, searching past Pino's form, to Re-l's corner. 

She was gone. 

"Is this the real Vince or the other Vince?" Pino inquired through her almost falsetto voice. He titled his back toward Pino who sat smiling on top of his chest.

"...W-what are you talking about, Pino?" He let his head fall back onto the linens, closing his eyes; his sore neck was burning. In response to his ignorance, Pino got off his chest and circled around to his head. She was giggling.

"Or is it both?" Vincent opened his eyes to Pino's robotic gaze. Within Pino there always seemed to be some sort of life, artificial or not. It was a twinkle in the eye or crookedness to the smile. This Pino was blank. 

She blinked her eyes at him, waiting for something, but for what?

"Is this the dream or is this the reality?" Nothing. No smile. No twinkle. This wasn't Pino. Was this another dream? Where did the dream end and reality begin? 

"It's time to wake-up," He couldn't look away from her. They held still, suspended motionless in an unending match of eyes. 

"But...how?" Vincent's words were hoarse, barely audible, but Pino could hear. 

"Open you eyes. Just open your eyes," That voice didn't belong to Pino. He knew that voice. Except it was Pino's voice...but wasn't. He didn't know anymore. Everything was all wrong! How did he get out of here? He wanted out. Vincent gripped his sheets tightly; the color from his knuckles faded into a sickly white. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Leave me alone!" He closed his eyes, willing her away. "I don't want to wake up!"

"What's with you?" That voice again. "Get out of those covers and get dressed already." A hand grabbed away his leverage, leaving him unshielded against the barrage.

Re-l was standing over him, a mug in her hands. Vincent looked at her. Was this real? Her eyes were half-slits, crinkling with slight humor. She was holding back laughter.

"What is it?" He was so lost, stuck between the surreal and the real.

"It's nothing." She looked away. "Just get dressed."

"I'm not naked am I?" You're always naked in dreams! Vincent grabbed at his gray under-shirt. Everything was intact. 

Then, the dam burst. Re-l's laughter filled the room.

"What is it?" He looked around, nervously running his fingers through his tousled hair. 

"You're so pathetic." She turned her back to him and walked to the opposite end of the near-vacant tent. This was real, somehow, he just knew. 

Re-l had disappeared again. She was slurping out of the mug one moment, gone the next. Vincent was in the corner of the tent, Re-l's vacated spot. A mirror fragment lay pressed against the mud of the tent; it was covered with dirt and copper-colored rust decorated its sharp edges. Beside the mirror was a shaving knife and bucket of water. This was the direct and overly-opinionated Re-l's way of being subtle. This gesture of silence bothered him. Was she avoiding him? Vincent lifted the mirror to his face; he cringed. Maybe it wasn't that subtle of a gesture. His hair was a tangled mess, even more so than usual. Five o'clock was coming early and his eyes were red with over-sleep. He dipped his hands into the water and splattered his stubble-dotted face. Now, it was shaving time. He attempted to balance the mirror in one hand, the knife in the other. No matter how hard he tried, his hand wouldn't stop shaking. Tremor-ridden, he slid the knife across his chin, cutting slowly at the short hairs. The duration of his grasp on the mirror wavered; it slipped out of sight and he ploughed on blindly. Pain was his curt response. His muscles were still asleep from the collapse. His head pounded lightly with a persistent headache. 

That's when he cut himself.

"Ow." Blood followed his jaw line and dived from the tip of his chin, splattering on the dirt floor.

"Interesting way of shaving." A gruff voice remarked from behind. "Most people tend to use a mirror." Vincent dropped the bloody tool. Its sharp echo reverberated back as it hit against the glass of the mirror. 

"Didn't mean to frighten you there, fella." Vincent stretched his neck back, meeting the stranger's gaze. The man smiled at Vincent from the opening of the tent flaps. Vincent receded into himself; silently, he nodded. There was an apprehension about both the men. Neither of them dared move from their spots. 

"Did your...er...friend get a chance to speak to you?" The man's lips quivered under a brown mustache. The hair on the top of his head was sparse and in clumps. Wrinkles and patches of skin sagged about his entire face. Vincent merely stared blankly at him. He was afraid. The flap to the tent opened behind the walrus-like man, letting sunlight pour in. It was a spot-light on Vincent. He cringed. The light burned. The flap fell back and there she was, an after-image dancing across his retinas. 

Re-l was back.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone." The man mumbled. "Nice meeting you?" The man waited for a name.

"Vincent," Re-l answered for him. The walrus man nodded, his mustache hairs bristling.

Vincent looked from the man to Re-l, confused. Re-l wasn't the same. Something had changed. Now, a stale air surrounded Re-l in an opaque fog. There was no laughter in her posture. It had evaporated along with her warmth. 

"Well, see you at 6:00, Ms. Re-l" She nodded curtly and watched him leave, listening as his footsteps sounded farther and farther away. He was out of ear-shot.

Then, it happened. She turned toward him, slowly. The fog grew, surrounding Vincent and Re-l in a tower of smoke and suffocation. Dread crept into Vincent's blood and simmered to a cool apprehension. He could feel the tension, cut it with a knife, and serve it for dinner. Vincent felt a cool drivel of blood run down his neck, but he paid it no attention. There was no feeling beyond fear. Re-l's eyes ran over his face and then back to his eyes. She was waiting. 

Vincent gave in.

"W-who was that?" He whispered, closing his eyes.

"General P.T. Jackson, sir!" Pine popped up from behind Re-l, saluted with her lips in a grim line. She couldn't hold it for long before she burst into a giggly fit. A ray of light burst forth from the cloud. Pino had broken through the wall. 

"Stop that Pino," Re-l said sharply. Pino shrank back, skipping to the other end of the tent. Vincent wondered if auto-reivs could feel tension like humans could. He attempted to distract Re-l by concentrating his focus on Pino's destination. But somehow, like a black-hole, Re-l's gaze sucked his into hers. His eyes, his whole body quivered under the pressure of her stare. The longer she glowered, the tighter the space between them seemed to compress. It was getting hard to breathe. 

"What were you thinking?" It was silent screaming, quiet enough to be deadly and loud enough to be heard.

"What?" He half-coughed the reply. Bending down as he pretended to search for a cloth.

"Don't play coy, Vincent Law." She crossed her arms. Vincent didn't move. His face remained blank and bloody. Re-l closed her eyes, shook her head, and sighed. "You were carried here by the man you almost shot." She uncrossed her arms, her hands knit into tight fists. "What the hell were you thinking Vincent? Pulling a gun on someone?" Vincent felt so naked against her hard, accusing gaze.

"I-I...I-I.." Unthinking, he was backing away, but she was on him. His back hit against the soft canvas of the tent. 

"Five minutes and we've already got death threats against us." Re-l shook her head fiercely. "I can't believe you! And you just sit there, quivering and frightened! You're lucky they believed you were just starved or crazy or whatever you are!" Her words came angry and slurred. This Re-l was shaky, without composure. She wasn't the strong Re-l that usually attacked Vincent. A new rage was bubbling from the inside, tearing her down. Even now, he saw a new vulnerability. Despite the weakness of her words, they still bit at him. Vincent's heart was beating quickly in his ears, his face was burning with the pain and the...? What was he feeling? It wasn't rage; it wasn't fear. It was something new all together.

"...whatever I am..." He whispered it to himself. What was he? Who was he? 

He knew. He knew all that. But did she accept him, would they accept him?

Did he accept himself? 

Maybe she was finally realizing it would never work. Maybe she was finally seeing him for the monster on the inside. He always knew she would never be able to love him. No matter how close they came, they would always be miles apart. No matter how tight he held her, she would always slip away from his grasp. 

"Maybe it would be better if I just left," The determination in his voice caught Re-l off guard. For a moment surprise took the place of her rage. 

"Maybe it would be." The words stumbled from her lips. She looked away from him, closing her eyes, closing him off from her true feelings. Thoughts kept running over and over in her head.

_Leave me. Leave me like everyone else. Go. _

_Please, just go. _

A tear slid down her cheek. She felt so cold, so alone. She'd never wanted to get close to anyone, never. 

She hated this! What was wrong with her? She couldn't stand being so dependent on someone. He had to leave. She wanted to be alone again. She didn't want to feel anymore! She couldn't take it!

The air suddenly warmed, the pressure slightly lifting. 

She knew he was there, hovering over her like a shield. His arms wound tightly across her waste. For a moment, they remained like this, together, one. Then, he slid his left hand across her arm until they were hand to hand. He spread the fingers apart, intertwining his fingers with hers. First, he lifted his right hand to her cheek and wiped away a vagrant tear. Re-l gritted her teeth, but ignored this burst of anger. Deep inside, she liked the feeling of his hand gracing her cheek, liked the warmth from his fingers. Then, in a twirling tango, he spun her to face him. He lifted her hand to his face. She let him do it. Together, their fingers followed the cut across his jaw.

"Am I like you?" Vincent's voice was impassive yet strong. "Do I bleed the same blood?" Re-l cringed as she felt the coolness of the continued flowing blood.

"I don't know and I don't care" It was her turn to avoid him, her turn to look away. Why was he asking her this? Why was she too ashamed to answer? 

"Who are you, Re-l?" She looked up at him, startled. The returning gaze was even more bewildering. His eyes were strange to her, filled with pity. The fire inside her burned again with rage. How dare he pity _her!_

"Who am I? Who are you, Vincent Law! One moment you're weak, the next you're a completely different person. Are you Ergo or are you Vincent? Who are you?" Re-l pushed at his arms, but he held tighter, stronger. "Let me go, dammit! Let me go!" She gasped in exasperation.

"Who do you want me to be?" He continued on in that passive voice. Re-l's eyes turned to venom, staring back into his. Her anger was blockaded by a wall of stoicism. He was waiting for his answer.

She didn't know. She didn't care. She just wanted to get away.

"I want you to be Vincent and I want you to stop playing these damn games!" He let his arms unfold abruptly. She was free. 

"You're playing the games!" Vincent yelled, anger distorting his expression. He jabbed an accusing finger at her. Re-l stumbled backward. She'd seen Vincent frustrated, but had she ever seen him angry? "Ever since we got here, you've been avoiding me." The pain was evident in the dying strength of his voice. What had she done? This was Vincent, not Ergo, not an imitation. This was human. "What's wrong with you?" His eyebrows arched in question, in confusion, in hope. 

"I don't know what you're talking about" Re-l sneered.

_I'm afraid…_

_Of letting you know me._

_Afraid you won't like me._

_Afraid you won't love me._

_Afraid you love her more_

_Afraid I can not love_

_I am so afraid,_

_I'll disappoint you._

Her eyebrows furrowed into an angered line; her face cast in a statue of rage. 

"Forget it." His voice was quieting. What had come over him just now? "I'm going for a walk." He started past her. Her finger-nails dug into the palm of her hand. Her anger still grew. It was anger at him, anger at her silence.

"Wash that blood off your face and don't shoot anyone, Vincent." Re-l spit out the name as if it disgusted her. She heard him splash the water across his face and shuffle across the dirt floor.

Re-l, still facing away, felt an urge to make a move, to stop him. She wanted to tell him about the fear, about the loneliness. She wanted to tell him about the wall she'd built to keep him out. She wanted to, but she couldn't form the words. 

"I want you to come back," She whispered to the blank canvas walls. Even if it was a baby step, it was a step toward the future.

He was gone, but he'd heard, and those words had meant everything

Authors Second Note: I wanted to write more, but I felt like that's where it needed to end. It didn't start off as a fight. It started off as a hug-fest. I thought that was boring, so I turned it into a fight. Thanks for reading! 


	5. Regrets

In the wake of the sinking sun, the beige tents blushed a mix of orange and pink, twilight. Lithe forms caste sharp silhouettes against the tarp, and diminishing whispers disappeared with the dying day. As the last lantern joined his darkened brethren, one deserted tent disrupted the others' peaceful submission; a lone shadow wound a sinuous path across the tent's deflated folds, marking it with the bane of alienation.

It did not conform; it did not belong.

Vincent, wondering tent to tent, had lost the time and himself in a sea of the unfamiliar. His wary eyes scanned the encampment, searching for some answer, some vestige of the world he once knew: Romdo. His lips pursed as if readying himself to speak, but wordlessly or aloud, the word never came. His lips and mind were too weak to bear the weight of the barren Romdo. The word itself had become taboo; in the stead of its spoken memory, a plague of silence would wash over the camp and consume every inventive flame of free thought.

He couldn't say it, couldn't think it because no creation, robotic or human, deserved Romdo's curse of complete obedience. It's preconceived destiny to die.

This place with its make-shift homes and fleeting comforts would prove more formidable than the domed Romdo, where no evil threats or raging diseases or revolutionary ideals could break past its thick walls and skulls. This resting commune had no complete reliance on computers, electricity, automobiles, or auto-reives. The space shuttles stationed in the center were its only evident mark of progressive technology. Even then, deep indents scarred the outer-shell of the out-of-date beasts. Compared to Romdo, they were anachronisms invading the purity and elegance of their world's forgotten dream, but Romdo's dream meant nothing now. It was a lost city buried beneath the sand. Funny that it should become the anachronism, discovered by some primitive race.

No. This place was nothing like Romdo with its organized lines and incessant noise: over and over the apathetic, automatic voice called out the rules and regulations, as if trying to prevent the inevitable rebellion. Desperately, again and again, repeating until conditioned to respond to every order; Romdo's perfect citizens were incapable of rebellion. The people of Romdo didn't have to think for themselves; their only requirement as thriving human beings was to listen to the droning tones of an invisible God. They milled about their fake empire smiling with empty eyes and an invested ignorance in self security.

They had become something less than human: robots.

And that's why, in the end, their ignorant silence consumed them.

But these people, these innocent drifters in all their humble shabbiness were better than Romdo. They were free in ways Romdo would never understand, unshackled by the bonds of self-restraint. They could choose, for themselves, who or what to believe in; no God's will was shoved down their throats.

Even if that meant believing in a wasteland, dehydrated foods packets, and hospitality toward volatile strangers, that would be all right with them. Sacrifice was the price of freedom.

But what had Vincent sacrificed to end up here? Had the lives of Romdo been his sacrifice?

The lives of many for the freedom of one, the harbinger of death.

He was worthless.

But, if he could go back, everything would've been different. If he could have one more chance, he would've saved Romdo.

Right?

A wayward thought-a distraction from the present paradigm- weaseled its way into Vincent's thoughts: if only you could have done tonight differently. That was the problem; in the end, his thoughts always went back to himself. He was a self-centered prick. Maybe that's why Re-l was sick of him. Who wanted to around someone who only cared about his own reflection?

Vincent had drifted away from the encampment long ago, but to him, he was wondering beyond time, sifting through vivid memories that played back like reality. No matter how far he traveled, he couldn't out-run his demons, especially those between Re-l and himself. One demon, one memory, continued to haunt his consciousness and build a wall between the two of them: Ergo.

But was that really true? Hadn't Vincent become Ergo? Ergo, Vincent? Was Ergo just a convenient scapegoat to shove all his problems onto? When trouble began to brew between them, subconsciously, Vincent always blamed his other self. His human hands were dyed a muted pink; Ergo, a raging blood red. But was there even a difference? In the end, every jabbing word had belonged solely to Vincent.

And he had meant them. He was mad at her. He was mad at Re-l. What was wrong with her? Suddenly, she was miss ice queen again, and Vincent was invisible. Maybe that was okay in the past, but he thought things were different now. He thought she was different.

Maybe it was him. Maybe after coming to a place with normal humans living normal wholesome lives, she had finally realized she could live a better life without him. It's not like she had to worry about any of them transforming into monsters or destroying cities or whatever! Now, she was slowly breaking if off with him. She'd just keep ignoring him until he eventually blinked off the radar. After a time, when she had been married to some decent man, she wouldn't even remember his name.

Ah! Vincent's fingers curled into fists, anger surging through his veins. He wanted to scream across the encampment until every single human heard it echoing off towering cliffs!

Damn Ergo! Damn Romdo! Damn the world!

Then, it hit him: self-awareness. What the hell was he doing? This was stupid, utterly moronic. He shook his head and arms, ridding himself of the pent-up fury. His whole body let go, and Vincent toppled to the ground in an exhausted heap. Hacking coughs ripped through his chest as he sunk to the sandy ground. Lost in his hatred and self-absorption, Vincent hadn't even noticed that he'd drifted away from the colony. Aimlessly, he'd climbed the steep cliff that over-looked the camp. It was the hill on which Re-l had almost fallen, but he'd caught her. And then what had happened?

She pushed him away again.

Maybe he should've let her fall.

Vincent leant backward, allowing his back to hit the hard ground. Sharp rocks bit into his flesh reminding him that there was pain beyond hate. He relished in this fleeting ache, taking him to a place without anyone but himself. As his skin adjusted to the indents of the pointed rocks, a new sense of defeat washed over his entire body. No feeling remained but willful resignation. He didn't want to think anymore. He wanted to lie here, staring at the open night sky and sulk in misery. He didn't even want to look at that stupid village below. It would only remind him of Romdo, what once was, and everything wrong with everything!

Vincent closed his eyes and lost himself the darkness, the silence of sleep.

_He opened his eyes to the faces of Re-l and Pino peering over him. His eyes darted on Pino first; the robot wore Re-l's red lipstick, smearing it into a devilish grin, and her curious eyes now shone with pure malice. Re-l, wearing her familiar apathy, stood away from the demonic Pino and staring at Vincent, looked right through him as if he was nothing. And, Clutched within Pino's robotic fist was a newly sharpened knife. _

_Re-l didn't move, just watched as Pino raised that hand._

_No matter how hard Vincent willed his body to move, he couldn't. They were going to stab him, and there was nothing he could do, not even scream._

Re-l, help me. Why, why don't you do anything? Why won't you stop her?

_And in a flash of reflected metal, Pino darted forward._

_He felt the stab as it knocked him in the ribs._

"Owe." A slumbering Vincent mumbled under labored breathes.

Something was poking his ribs and poking them hard.

_Over and over, Pino thrust the knife through him, and Re-l didn't move. She only whispered, "Kill the monster."_

"No!" Vincent's torso shot forward and his eye-lids burst open. A thin veil of liquid, left-overs from his fitful nap, blurred his eyes until his surroundings became a fragmented anomaly. A tall rock, towering above him, almost appeared in the form of a woman with a large stick.

"So he lives."

He must've been dreaming still because he could've sworn that rock was talking. Well, since he must be sleeping, he might as well enjoy it. Vincent shrugged, a lethargic smile curling up at the corners of his lips. He closed his eyes, letting his body fall backward once again into uncertain dreams.

As soon as darkness took its hold, the poking commenced once more.

"Come now, boy. Only vagabonds sleep out in the desert." Vincent, far beyond human contact, swatted haphazardly at the mysterious voice. Why didn't that rock just let him sleep? Stupid dream rock.

"Be quiet, rock." Vincent murmured, turning onto his side. "And stop poking me."

"I'm not a rock, boy." The voice cut in tersely. Vincent reluctantly opened his eyes, red with irritation from lack of sleep and drifting dust particles. A shadowed form hovered above him. For a moment, it crossed his mind that the demonic duo had not been a dream, and yet, unlike in the dream, he had the will to move but didn't want to. He was done with making choices. But as he blinked the dust away and his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the rock took on an entirely different form: a crumpled old woman.

Now, Vincent was wide awake, his eyes widening to the brink. The first thing he noticed was a walking stick squared against his chest.

"W-what are you doing?" His eyes traced the stick upward until he came to its owner, the wrinkled and mole-ridden face of an elder.

"Pokin' you." She smirked, revealing yellow-crusted teeth. The woman lifted the stick from his chest and with a jab downward toward the earth, planted it securely in the dust.

Vincent, his whole body shaking, rolled his torso forward to face the woman. His face was blotched red from scraping against the hard ground, and his limbs were stiff with after-sleep. He was a mess.

Vincent pinned his drowsy, half-crazed looking eyes onto the strange woman darting around.

"Why," Vincent paused, searching for the words lost in the realm of sleep. "Why were you poking me?" He ran his fingers through his hair, tousling it into further catastrophe. Slowly-his legs had been numbed by his nap-he stood to face the woman, who turned out to be not so towering after all. Actually, her height was more equitable to that of a ten year old midget.

"To make sure you weren't dead of course. If you died out here, I'd have to report it to the village." The condescension in her voice rang out with evident self-satisfaction. To her, the answer seemed obvious, and Vincent must be too stupid to understand.

"Report it to the village?" The haggard man grumbled, stumbling as he straightened his crumbled shirt. Vincent didn't know if he'd ever be able to iron out the wrinkles. Re-l would probably make fun of him for it later.

Re-l...the village...

For a moment, Vincent had forgotten about everything: the fight, the aimless pilgrimage, and the haunting dreams.

It had been a blissful ignorance.

"That's my job" The woman's curt voice broke Vincent away from his self-pity. "To an extent, that is." With a mighty tug, the woman wrenched the walking stick free from its grounded prison. "You look awful." The hag grunted through exasperated breathe as she ran dirty fingers through course, white hair. Vincent, speechless, stared at the woman a long time, not knowing how to classify her; he had never seen anyone like her. She tactlessly made comments on others' appearance with no regard to her own. Her face was stained with large, brown spots, permanent remnants of the high noon sun. Her small hands were scarred and knotted like that of a man who's worked under the slaving pressure of a needy family. Yet, underneath all the grime and dirt, eternal marks lightened and framed her honesty: laugh lines. Once upon a tie, there had been more than a thin-lipped frown frozen to her face. There had been laughter, hope, happiness, humanity.

But, looking at unfortunate strangers, men would rather see monsters over mirrors.

"What are you staring at, boy?"

Vincent, embarrassment tinting his cheeks a soft pink, shook his head in reply.

"Nothing, nothing." The second came out in a timid whisper. He felt guilty because part of him wondered if she wasn't some witch reading his thoughts.

"Your lips read one thing, but your eyes say another." The hag, her calculating eyes trained on Vincent's pale face, ran a dry tongue across gritty teeth. Then, like a mischievous child, her face came alive with an untamable fire. Her diluted eyes filled the darkened night like the stars that should've been there but instead slumbered behind roaming clouds. Vincent, on the other hand, seemed to grow more fatigued as the seconds passed. For a brief moment his eyes fluttered closed, but that was all it took for him to loose consciousness. Trapped within sporadic dreams, his legs failed him, and he stumbled, falling toward the hard earth. Instead of colliding into sand, a hard cane met his rips, righting his balance.

"Ooowe," Vincent grumbled and thought, I would've preferred the ground. Before he could finish that thought, a sudden pain ripped through his skull; cane had met head. Begrudgingly, Vincent rubbed his scalp, too tired to argue with the woman's illogical behavior.

"Come on, sleepy. I need you awake to walk a little ways closer to camp. We wouldn't want the misses worrying, would you?" She smirked, her eyes still alit with an unknown passion.

"Wait. How di-" Vincent was silenced with another whack of her cane, this time on his shoulder.

"We only have time for answers. The questions will come later." A strange, sick humor rang clear in her voice. Vincent only shook his head confused by her meaningless diction.

_________________________________________

The walk here, the fire, the blanket...

He didn't remember any of it. Suddenly, he found himself sitting in a cave in front of a small blaze, a large blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Had he walked here in his sleep? Or was this just another dream?

"Ah, I thought I'd lost you." His body tensed, readying himself for some attack. Who was that? Then, in a sudden rush, the memories came flooding back. The old woman. Despite his recognition, he couldn't bring himself to relax. Her voice seemed to echo from everywhere while she was nowhere to be found, concealing herself somewhere in the shadows. What reason did she have to hide from him?

When he thought about it, she had all the reason in the world.

"Good. You should be afraid." She whispered from the darkness. There was playfulness to her voice, like she was the cat and he was the mouse. Vincent had a bad feeling in his stomach.

"I'm not afraid." He whispered to the darkness, though the rebuke only revealed his fear. But Vincent couldn't be afraid anymore. Vincent was a new Vincent now. But if Ergo and the being called "Vincent" truly had merged, then part of him was still weak to human superstitions. So, fear was natural, right?

"Boo." Vincent jumped; the woman, sipping from a glass mud, had appeared beside him. She stretched out a hand toward the fire, flexing each of her fingers. "Don't let your pride be your downfall," She said nonchalantly, her gaze remaining on the fire. "What? Don't give me that look. I can have some fun." She smirked at him, expecting some outburst of anger. Instead, Vincent's eyes grew to be stone and mistrust clouded over his perception. Then, the woman's face softened. Maybe she had over done it a little. After all, she didn't know him, didn't know his pain. Minutes passed between them as they both stared blankly at the fire. For once, Vincent wasn't thinking about anything but the scene before him. His eyes danced along with the blaze as it twisted and drew back, pivoting through the air. It was beautiful and chaotic, nothing else like it on this planet.

It was perfect.

"I have come here to die." The woman's voice was so low that at first Vincent wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly. The words impregnated the darkness with a sense of deep meaning. They had been born there, ended there, and now, waited for rebirth through the old hag's lips. "Our existence is fleeting, but time is forever. Or will that too end one day?" Her musings were dry and meaningless. She was biding her time, distracting herself from what she really wanted to say. Something much greater hid behind her words' triviality. "This is the first time I have ever resided on a planet. Everything I have learned about elements and survival has all come from computer simulations. Do you think of me different now?" He did. Everything he'd thought of her now meant nothing. He had been wrong. What was a lie? What was the truth? Though questions flew through his mind, Vincent didn't move; he waited, sensing more to come. "I always wondered what it would be like to see the new world." She paused, taking in a deep breathe. Vincent thought that she must be too overwhelmed, too choked up with past longing. Or was that a lie too? Was there more to the silence than he perceived? "I never thought I'd see it. I guess I should be happy." The words were empty, devout of all emotion. Instead of continuing, she sat her mug down, its contents now consumed. Then, stood, crossing her arms and losing herself in memory. She didn't want to stay still; she had to keep moving in order to get over the past.

"In space, when people had reached their full potential, they were left to die on some alien planet or…or…they were left to drift in space. It didn't matter if they were dead. If they were useless, they sent them off. I remember watching my grandfather, quiet and calm and resolute, getting sucked out, and then, nothing. He just floated away." Vincent's eyes widened, but soon her lips were moving again, and he couldn't look away; it was too late now. "You probably think we're barbaric, but knowing what you know about humans, you probably already assessed that." For a moment, a smile flitted onto her face, and then just as it had come, it disappeared. "I asked my father if my grandfather would find God out there. He said, yes, of course. I was so naïve. Humans are pathetic aren't they, Vincent? Always obeying as long as immortality is waiting on the other side." She sighed, half-believing what she said, half-trusting in the promises of the past.

"We were one of the first vessels to ever leave Earth, to find some salvation, but we failed. We drifted through space, barely holding on. If someone couldn't be useful, they were wasting space; we had to make hard choices in order to survive." Was she trying to justify their cruelty? "We gladly gave up our lives to perpetuate the human race. It's the living or the dead, the humans or everyone else." She flashed him a thoughtful look then. How much did this woman know about him? How had she known about Re-l? "Now," She sat up, smiling a sickeningly bright smile. "It is my time to die. I am of no use here." She wiped her fingers on her dress, picking up the mug from the ground.

"I don't understand. You're not in space anymore. Why…why die?" His question came reluctantly as if not knowing was somehow betraying his own intelligence.

"I bring no use to them." She motioned toward the unseen encampment. Funny how even in the darkness, she could sense its direction. What bothered him more was the directness of her answer. It was fact, nothing more. "I have no value. All I do is consume the food meant for someone with potential. It is my time." She was resolute. It had been drilled into her ever since she was born on that miserable ship. "If you cannot be a tool, you are nothing." She paused then and turned her head slowly to look at him. "It's you or them." She began to take the blanket from his shoulders; he let her. "We were one of the first vessels, but we were not the last." Though the words came conversationally, Vincent recognized their significance. The woman didn't look at him again, her hands busy at work folding the blanket. Then, her entire body froze, her mind caught up in some memory.

"When you close your eyes in space, it doesn't feel any different. Everything is static. For the rest of my time here, I will watch over this small encampment. This is the destiny of the dying. To wait, to stand by as the world moves past. We are outside of time, outside of the rules built by my kind. It's as if we're drifting through the darkness, searching for some identity that will never come. We are making the easy choices, searching for something outside ourselves instead of finding answers from within. I have come here to die because that is my destiny, that is who I am now." She smiled then. "I always dreamed of living on some earth and planting a beautiful garden in its soil, but I wasted too much time dreaming." She took his hands then, guiding him to the outside.

"I-I don't understand." He whispered, resisting her tugs.

"Someday, you will need to make a choice." Then, Vincent felt the cool air surround him, welcoming him back to the outside. He tried to turn around to ask more, but she let go before he could even murmur a word. Vincent tried to reach back for her hand. He didn't understand. Who was she? Why was she telling him this?

But she was already gone.

For a while, he just stood there, staring off into the cave, puzzling over her. Then, the sun began to make its way across the sky, and he knew it was time to return. As Vincent walked off, he realized something.

He had never told her his name.

Author's Note: So, first, hello. Sorry for the wait. Also, my procrastinating made me forget what I really wanted to say with the "I have come here to die." I knew the gist of it. I didn't really like what it ended up as. Oh well, that's what I get for not writing down my ideas.

So, I lurked around a couple of EP communities, and man, I must have missed some pretty vital episodes. I wish my friend would give me the DVDs like he promised. So sorry if this is distorted, and I'm not sure if I can do much to fix it once I do figure out what Re-l and Vincent knew about the future. Thank you for reading and commenting! The next chapter will probably center around Re-l.


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